Selina Ou: Neighbourhood Tales

Selina Ou, The Kite, 2020. Inkjet print 120 x 80cm. Courtesy the artist and Sophie Gannon Gallery, Melbourne

Neighbourhood Tales is an exhibition of photographs produced in Maroondah and surrounding suburbs between 2020 and 2022 by Selina Ou in collaboration with her two sons who appear in each of the images, sometimes together, sometimes alone.

Ou, an Australian artist of Malaysian Chinese descent, describes these artworks as “narrative landscape photographs”, meaning that she has invited her children to pose as figures within colour documentary images of local landscapes to tell stories about their shared experience of suburban life. Each image (or tale) is carefully staged and subtly lit, bringing a theatrical scenography to these familiar environments.

As those of us who are old enough to remember know, this project was conceived in the thick of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Ou, as an artist and mother - like all Australian parents of young children - was thrust into lockdown and subjected to public health measures that could hardly have been imagined: home schooling, severely limited physical interaction beyond the family unit, and heavily restricted outdoor activity. The artist’s more usual subjects - documentary portraits of people at work and play - were suddenly off limits.

Neighbourhood Tales is Ou’s creative solution to remaining productive through this unusual and challenging time. The result is a compelling series of images that is at once intensely personal and universally relatable. Concealing her children’s facial identity is on the on hand a tender, protective move, and on the other it opens up these figures as surfaces on which we can project memories and experiences of childhood, whether they be our own or those of our children.  

Exhibition events and activities

These events and activities are suitable for all ages an interests.

Storytimes for Kids

Join Realm Library Children’s Librarian, Sarah Werner at ArtSpace for a series of specially themed storytimes inside the Neighbourhood Tales exhibition.

Childhood theme

• Wednesday 9 August - 11am - Toddler Storytime for ages 1 - 3
• Wednesday 9 August - 2pm - Family Storytime for ages 0 - 6
• Thursday - 10 August - 11am Preschool Storytime for ages 3 - 6

Family Landscapes - Panel Discussion

Saturday 12 August, 2pm - 3pm

Join Selina Ou and artists Siri Hayes, Mia Mala McDonald and Stephanie Rose Wood together with ArtSpace Curator Gareth Syvret as they discuss the images and themes running through Neighbourhood Tales and the challenges and creative potentials of art, parenthood, creativity and the landscape of suburban family life.

Free event - everyone welcome. 

RSVP online

Kids Photography Activity

Create Your Own Neighbourhood Tale

Inspired by Selina Ou’s exhibition at ArtSpace at Realm we are inviting kids, parents/carers and families to create their own Neighbourhood Tales in their favourite places in Maroondah and beyond.

Find out more by visiting ArtSpace at Realm to pick up a ‘Create Your Own Neighbourhood Tale’ activity sheet or download a copy below:

Create Your Own Neighbourhood Tale(PDF, 173KB)

Let’s Celebrate - meet the artist and each other!

Saturday 16 September, 2pm - 3pm

Community and participants in the ‘Create Your Own Neighbourhood Tale’ activity are invited in come along to ArtSpace at Realm on Saturday 16 September from 2 - 3pm to meet Selina Ou and share their photographs, their own Neighbourhood Tales and some snacks.

Free event - everyone welcome. 

RSVP online

For further information on the exhibition, contact Council on 1300 88 22 33.

When

Location

Realm, 179 Maroondah Hwy, Ringwood, 3134, View map